Thank goodness for quiet mornings, because I have a stack of papers to grade. I figure if I can get at least seven done today, this will put me at a good pace for finishing them the rest of the week. So far no "gems" to share with you, but a few surprisingly enjoyable ones. Yay.

On Friday one of my students rang me for clarification about the next paper and we got onto the topic of music. It never ceases to amaze me that students put you in a bubble. This particular student missed a class because he had a gig (they are allowed to miss two). So I asked him about his band and this turned into a longish chat on musical influences. He said his band was psychedelic like Pink Floyd and I asked if he liked Tame Impapa, which he'd never heard of. He said people compare them to Mazzy Star. I said that's more like goth psychedelia - like some Cure. I suggested perhaps they were a mix between The Cure and Syd Barrett. He seemed pleased and impressed. He's going to bring me a demo tape of his band. I'm fairly certain he's never talked music with a professor before, so I'm not sure if he was surprised at my interest in music, or my interest in his band. Still, it was a nice way to relate.

After hanging up with him, I met up with elrina753 and we went to an art show for the comic book Kill Shakespeare and missed Michael Moore joining the party by mere minutes. The show was cramped and fun. The artist and writers were great guys, very engaging and a little bit flirty. One of them (Anthony) thought I was either a musician or clothing designer based on my outfit, which amused and pleased me greatly. He kept asking about my fiction (I said writing was a creative outlet) and elrina753 did her best to keep from laughing and screaming SHE WRITES FANFIC PORN. I told him about a short story I had published many years ago. Well, it wasn't a lie! The other writer (Connor) kept asking about our television and fandom interests, which only garnered more opportunity for potential facepalmage as the Prosecco flowed and the space became steadily more cramped. I swear, I felt a bit like they were trying to get us drunk and suck ideas out of us.

I can't say I regret not running into Michael Moore. Although I agree with some of his politics, I do not get the sense he is very pleasant company as he's quite in-your-face to just about everyone whether you're on his side or not.

At any rate, after several glasses of Prosecco and much jovial conversation, we made our way over to Tea & Sympathy for dinner and managed to also finish of a Banoffee Pie that we shared. Then she helped me back to my place with bags of goodies for our upcoming Booshfest with soulsister101 next weekend. They also gave us bags of Walker crisps that were just at their expiry date. I've brought them into work. People seem to find them exotic and exciting, just because they are British. :grin:

Saturday night reminded me just how much I love the internet and the kindness equally obsessed nature of strangers in fandom because someone managed to record and upload the Mighty Boosh Band Zappa tribute performance. PM me if you want a download link.

Here is a clip from the show. "Hello Little Deer" comes from their early radio show and this performance includes Noel reading bits from Zappa's Old Bailey Obscenity Trial. I think Frank would've loved their tribute; it was definitely surreal.



Yesterday was all about cleaning and grading papers. And tonight I'm going to use up the rest of my CSA bounty by making a Japanese curry and a cranberry cake.

We have sleet today; it's chilly and windy. Daylight savings is here, and soon it will be winter. I can't believe it's November already.

How was your weekend, flist?

So last week I exercised four days in a row and felt really good about it. I did a lot of walking yesterday, and decided that was enough for one day. I figured today I'd get on my exercycle after work. Except I wound up having some problems with my pump, which meant I couldn't do anything until that was fixed. I'll spare you the medical explanation except for that you're not supposed to exercise when you run ketones. So instead I had to wait for things to calm down (several hours) and then I just did some yoga. I feel good for that, at least. So that's pout #1. I'm fine, btw. This happens on occasion, so don't worry. It's just too late in the evening for me to start doing cardio and hope to have a full night's rest.

Pout #2 was a phone call I received this afternoon. Remember when I applied for that faculty position several months ago? Well someone from the University rang me up because one of their adjuncts fell ill and they are in a spot of bother trying to hire a replacement. I had to turn them down. There's no way I can pick up an extra class now, especially not in the middle of the afternoon way up in the Bronx. I had to tell her my commitments were made for the semester. But even more to the point, it turns out they wanted to hire me for the position. Only, they couldn't get a guarantee on the salary line because of all the problems with the University budget tied to the NY State budget. And our state government is a clusterf*ck of FAIL this year and nothing was finalized in Albany until late August, rendering the possibility of guaranteeing a faculty line nil.

So double pout. But at least I know I interviewed well. I told her I really wanted it, to keep me in mind if a full-time faculty position opens up in the future. She said she would. She sounded a bit annoyed that I wouldn't take the adjunct position, but there was just no way.

btw, as a total aside, the knife I bought on Saturday was a Forschner 7" Santoku Granton Edge knife with the Rosewood handle. I used it again tonight and I'm even more in love than the first time. Cutting with it was so smooth, it was like makin' love to my vegetables. Except, you know, not in the hur hur sort of way. The knife, the board, and I were as one. And at such a reasonable price, I dearly wish I'd purchased it sooner.

I give you this snarktastic essay on the Future of Plagiarism from The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Now I'm off to hunt down a black feather boa for tomorrow. Jazz Age Lawn Party, y'all!

And then there's the DWNY picnic on Sunday!

I'm so hyper today, y'all. It's been a crazy week and I am soooo ready for this weekend.

Have a good one, flistees.





:bouncy, bouncy, bouncy:

I'm smiling because my nerve test yesterday was nowhere near as bad as some others' experiences.

And because my lunch was tasty.

And because someone just told me a tasty little secret about their sex life.

But mostly, I'm smiling because I'm grading papers and last night one of my students told me "the word on the street is that you're a hard grader, in case you wanted to know."

This amused me greatly.